'The financial impact will be massive': Sunderland businesses and residents react to cancellation of Airshow

Sunderland City Council has confirmed that it has no plans to run the airshow in the future, citing the city's ambition to be carbon neutral and global climate issues as key factors.

The Echo spoke to both businesses and city residents on the sea front, where the aerial extravaganza traditionally takes place, to get their views – and there was a lot of sadness at the announcement.

The airshow traditionally attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Sunderland seafront and the news has left local businesses in the area concerned.

Adam Straughan, 36, General Manager at the Granie Annie’s pub, in Roker, said: “I’m a little bit gutted to be fair. It’s been going for years and years and brings everybody down to the coast. We get a lot of business over that weekend because obviously people come from all over and they stay in the hotels and visit local shops, have a drink and stuff so it does bring a lot of people down.

“The financial impact will be massive. Especially in these dire times going through this crisis and this crisis and all that, it’s a footfall and income that we could have done with.”

Joe Kaigg, 27, Manager at The Promenade, Seaburn, said: “It’s very disappointing. It brings a lot of people down here every year. It will affect us massively. We’ve got the perfect view for it so we always have more tables out the front and people would come here, spend the money and it would be really good, so it’s a shame.”

Victoria Rate, 40, from the Seaburn Inn added: “The council spent all this money on revamping the full seafront and we’re not going to get the revenue from what they’ve put out. We’re not going to get the footfall that we would expect.”

Originally from Liverpool, Barry Lloyd, 69, moved to Sunderland 34 years ago and the airshow has been a staple of his time on Wearside.

He said: “It was a big thing for the area and for Sunderland which brought in a lot of money. It was a good day out and was just a good thing for the area which brought an awful lot of people in. I used to go every year, first with the kids and then the grandkids, but now it’s all gone.”

The news also came as a disappointment for Marilyn Brown, 74, from Farringdon, who said: “I’m disappointed. My Dad was in the RAF, he lived in Sunderland and every year he would never miss seeing it. Businesses are having a hard time to start with and you would think anything that could help them would keep on going.

Margaret Fort, 71, from Redhouse, disagrees with the council’s reasoning of citing environmental impacts for the cancellation.

She said: “Everything’s getting cancelled so I think we’re just used to it. Everything is a carbon issue, which is very important, but I don’t know if something like the airshow would make a big difference or not. I’m sort of indifferent but it’s just another thing that’s been cancelled and we’ll probably never see it again which is a shame.”